User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Eric Smith
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: December 11, 2003

Bottom Line:

I think that this system is great. It has a great sub and great sattelites that simply cannot and won't distort no matter what the volume. It sounds astoundingly good for the size. I do think that it should be about $599 not 1 thousand. However, I would not recommend this as a "main" ht system. This would be great in your bedroom.

We have a HT in our finished basement, full boat no holds barred. Recently I purchased a Sony 30" Wega for upstairs and was looking for a system that could blend in with the envionment. I found it, the Bose 321. This is what this was designed for. This is a wife friendly system with a big sound. It was sopose to be the second car, get it! I think the price is fair and the quality so far is great. When you crank this system up it really performs. If you are looking for a system that offers a graet sound for 2 speakers this is it. I do agree that Bose could have offered a component out for the vidio on the DVD. I can still add this if I want using one of the other inputs to a external DVD player. The picture is not bad as it is though. If you are an audio geek, this should not be your primary system, but if you are looking for something that blends in, with a big sound 321 is for you!

I was quite disappointed to get this system and find out that it wouldnt play my MP3 CD's, and there are no controls on the front of the box so if you want to stack other components, you really have to exclusively use the remote. and the remote doesnt have an eject button, so you still have to jam your finger on top to get the CD out.

I must say that i love my bose wave radio, and admire the smallness of bose speakers, but if someone is a real music fan and has a traditional stereo setup and is seeking to get into surround sound, this is not the way to go. Luckily, bose has great customer service and seems to have no problem that i will be sending it back, and they did make a great effort to explain how to play mp3's, but it shoudnt be a challenge to play them in the first place...especially if they advertize it works with them (which it really, for all intents and purposes, doesnt).

I was disappointed in the DVD player, it won't play VCD or JPEGs, and it has difficulty with home burned MP3s, it took two tries to burn a disk that it would read. It also makes a whirring noise while changing settings and loading disks. My son's 70 dollar APEX DVD player has just as good picture quality and will play almost any disk you put in it!
Just goes to show you, pricier isn't always better

The 321 System is a unique system. 3 Wires, 2 Speakers, 1 Remote control. There is absolutely nothing else out there that resembles it.
The 321 never ceases to amaze me. I have the opportunity to listen to this system for both movies and music and I am impressed with the "system of the year". The 321 definitely deserves this accolade because it is the first of its kind; surround sound from only 2 speakers is an awesome solution for those that do not or cannot wire speaker sbehind them. When properly set up, this system works! It sounds to me that the above reviews did not take the time to set it up.
For me, it is a great bedroom setup (where I do not want a lot of wires).